Screening arrangements are used in the mining and similar industries to size and separate materials. Certain screening arrangements include modular screening systems which are composed of a plurality of modular and replaceable screening media. These modular screening systems often include steel or other support structures to support modular screening media.
Existing steel or other structures used to support modular screening media often fail due to abrasive contact with screened material or by exposure to chemicals in the screened material. Current solutions for providing longer service life of these structures include modular protective covers, more exotic materials (e.g. using stainless steel instead of carbon steel in structure's fabrication), bonded rubber lining, spray-on coatings, additional thickness of the structure, or added layers of wear (sacrificial) materials.
Each of these remedies has inherent inadequacies. Current modular covers, such as molded plastic or rubber shapes that surround the top and sometimes sides of the protected structure fail to provide a seal at their interface locations. This allows both abrasive and chemical attacks of the protected structure. More expensive materials, such as stainless steel or composite materials, often last longer but are prohibitive in terms of cost. Moreover, these materials may offer improved resistance to chemical attack but typically do not outperform more conventional structural materials for abrasion resistance. Rubber lining and applied coatings eventually wear and are difficult to replace on site. Similarly, sacrificial materials, such as steel plating, are also difficult to replace on site.
Thus a need exists for a system and an apparatus for protecting support structures that overcomes these deficiencies.